The Jammu and Kashmir unit of BJP today slammed National Conference leader Omar Abdullah for backing IAS officer Shah Faesal over his controversial tweet on an incident of rape and accused the former chief minister of politicising and communalising the issue.

State spokesperson of the party Anil Gupta alleged that the tweet of Faesal, a 2010-batch IAS officer, was “mischievous” and he was an “errant officer” who had made several anti-establishment tweets in the past.

“Abdullah is not only supporting Faesal’s tweet in which he termed India ‘Rapistan’ but is also attempting to politicise and trivialise the issue by selectively quoting from the show cause notice issued to him,” Gupta said in a statement.

He said by supporting Faesal, Abdullah had politicised the issue.

“In a serious matter of breach of discipline by an IAS officer who is bound by rules of conduct, Abdullah is trivialising the entire issue and also attempting to communalise it,” he alleged.

Earlier, disciplinary action was initiated against Faesal over his tweet. He was issued a show cause notice by the General Administration Department who initiated the proceedings at the request of the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Abdullah had come out in support of the 2010-batch IAS exam topper.

“Looks like DOPT is determined to chase @shahfaesal out of the civil services. The last line of this page is shocking & unacceptable where they question Faesal’s ‘integrity & honesty’. How is a sarcastic tweet dishonest? How does it make him corrupt?” the NC leader tweeted.

Gupta alleged that the Faesal had repeatedly used Twitter to criticise the functioning of both the central and state governments and had made statements contrary to the government’s directives.

He alleged that Abdullah had conveniently ignored several other anti-establishment tweets by the officer to politicise the disciplinary action initiated against him by the government.

He alleged that the officer “trivialised” the rules of the rules of business by making public the notice served to him and blaming the government.

“A disciplined officer would have given his explanation to the competent authority rather than going public and defying the central government directive of 2016,” Gupta said. PTI